Has YouTube just changed the game for content creators?
No short form video platform has yet solved how to share ad revenue, meaning it is difficult for creators to live off their content alone – until today. YouTube has announced a ground-breaking update to its Partner Programme, allowing creators to earn ad revenue on the Shorts section of the platform. Could YouTube now be TikTok’s biggest competitor?
To gain access to the original Partner Programme, YouTubers were required to have over 1000 subscribers, with a watch time of over 4000 hours in the last year. To obtain access to the desired update, Short creators must now achieve a minimum of 10 million views on the platform over the previous 90 days.
What does this mean for influencers?
It is no secret that the popularity of YouTube has declined over the last few years, due to its powerful competitors and a shift in audience personas. The YouTube apocalypse was made clear in 2018 when its annual and popular ‘YouTube Rewind’ received over 10 million dislikes. Remember the days when you used to spend hours watching your favourite vloggers’ daily lives? That time spent soon changed to scrolling through TikTok, Reels and other 7-60 second content. Why would creators not want to move over to these short form video platforms? Less time, but more attention. However, with the introduction of Shorts and shared ad revenue, this may be the catalyst for YouTube’s big return. Vloggers will be in for a win-win situation, in which they can still create these short videos, while making a reasonable income.
How will this affect marketing agencies?
While the use of YouTube within digital marketing agencies has always stayed apparent, it may now be a service that is used more heavily in social media and content marketing. It has become very clear that social media is not a ‘one size fits all’ strategy any longer and will lead to individual approaches being essential. A deeper insight into the brand’s audience, financial and growth goals will determine which platform may be worth putting time and money into.
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